Adventures In The Key Of 'H'
by IrritatingAsp
Summary: A group of High School music students is mysteriously sent back in time to 19th-Century Paris and met up with the Phantom of the Opera, but it's going to get even weirder with the arrival of a certain blue box...
1. Chapter 1: The Students

**Author's Note:** I do not own "The Phantom of the Opera" in any of its forms, nor "Doctor Who".

The Students, however, are mine (to an extent). They are inspired by myself and my classmates when I took violin in High School. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

* * *

Erik walked through the Grand Foyer in the black of night. Only the moon and distant city lights illuminated the room. He stood in the center of the hall and looked out of the windows. The midnight bells rang at Notre Dame. As they faded, silence reigned once again.

And then something disturbed that silence. It was distant at first, but the sound was fast approaching. A scream... Several people screaming, growing louder. The sound was coming from behind him, in the Grand Staircase. He hurried to the centre tier. He had been sure that no one was still here...

As the screams reached a crescendo, there was a great burst of light at the foot of the staircase and about half a dozen of young people were thrown from it, along with several violin cases, one cello case, and portfolios of sheet music. They all lay still for a moment or two, motionless as the leaves of paper settled around them.

Normally, he would have hid if he knew people were approaching, but Erik stayed rooted where he was, staring at the adolescents, trying to make sense of what had happened.

Almost in unison, they started to moan quietly from the pain of being slammed into the marble floor.

Grant was the first to make a sound. "What the heck happened?" he groaned, rubbing his head.

He, Lisa, Alicia, Megan and Julie all pulled themselves into a sitting position and stared at each other. Suddenly, it hit them. Well, figuratively speaking, this time. They all turned to the one figure who had not yet risen.

"DAN!" they yelled.

Dan sat up. "Wha'?"

"What did you do?" demanded Grant.

The rest of the teens gathered around him, all repeating the question.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Yes you did!" retorted Megan.

"Nothing happened until you started playing the piano!" said Alicia.

There was a general fracas until Julie, having seniority and being the accused's older sister, commanded all to be quiet. "Now just wait a second!" Silence reigned once again. "Ok, what's the last thing everyone remembers until we showed up here?"

"Dan was going to test his new theory with us," said Lisa. "It had to do with music, and we all gathered around the piano. He hit the keys, there was a terrible noise..."

Megan continued, "And then there was the light." All the kids nodded and murmured in agreement. "And then... it was like being in a tunnel, being sucked through until we landed. Rather harshly, too."

"Speaking of which," said Dan, "Where are we?"

They all looked around, taking notice of that particular fact for the first time. They squinted in the darkness.

Erik, being French and not knowing how to speak English (which is a surprise to the author), could not fully understand what they were saying. He knew how to speak German, however, and could pick up some of their words and have some idea as to the conversation, as if their body language did not provide enough information.

Megan looked straight up. "No!" she said in disbelief.

"What?"

"No!" she repeated.

"What?" They demanded again.

Megan laughed. "We're in Paris!"

"What?"

"I'd know those paintings anywhere!" She pointed to one of the portraits on the ceiling. "See that one? It represents all the arts presenting their gifts to Paris. And the woman in the blue represents the Seine."

"How do you know that?" asked Grant.

"Wait, weren't you here last year?" asked Lisa.

"Yes. When I went to Europe last year, this was the highlight of my trip. My friends, we are in the Paris Opera House, the Opera de Garnier, the Palais de Garnier!"

"All three in one?" asked Dan. Megan slapped him.

"This was the inspiration for_ The Phantom of the Opera_", she continued. "It's an amazing place. Come up here and see the Foyer."

Erik disappeared as they made their way up the staircase and found a more useful place to observe them.

The kids stopped, speechless and awe-stricken.

"It's even better at night," whispered Megan.

They looked out the windows and gazed at the lights of the city.

"Look," gasped Alicia, "Notre Dame!"

After the customary 'oohhs' and 'aahhs', Julie asked a pertinent question: "Can you see the Eiffel Tower from here?"

Megan's face suddenly became unusually serious. "Yes."

"Well, where is it? Shouldn't it be lit up at night?"

"Yes."

Julie looked at her closely. "Are you ok, Megan?"

"Not anymore."

"What's wrong?"

"The Eiffel Tower's gone."

"What are you talking about?" asked Dan.

Megan pointed to a blank space in the Paris skyline. "The Eiffel Tower is supposed to be right there."

"But if it's gone, what does that mean?"

"It means that we not only teleported, we time-traveled."

"Are you sure?"

"Look at it! There's no Eiffel Tower, no brilliant lights of any kind, which would lead me to believe that we've not yet entered the age of electricity and that's what makes Paris Paris!" She turned around dramatically. "If the Eiffel Tower isn't there, that means that we are in Paris at a year prior to 1900."

Dead silence ensued. Everyone turned to Dan again. Then they all attacked him again.

Loud above everyone else's voice, Grant was heard shouting, "You maniac! What have you done? We're not only half a world away, we're over a century away!" The outburst was followed by a bout of hysterical laughter, which was terminated by a sound slap from Alicia.

"Wait, Megan, wait," said Lisa. "Couldn't you have made a mistake? Maybe the Eiffel Tower's on the other side."

"Well, I did see both the Tower and the Opera from Notre Dame, and they looked kinda parallel, but I could be mistaken."

There was a small sigh of relief from the group.

"But there's another thing we could check," she continued, "The mural around the chandelier."

"Oh no..." muttered Julie.

"About 40 years ago, they changed the mural around the chandelier from the original Victorian-era painting to a modern art one. It's one of the most hideous and misplaced things I've ever seen, but for once, I'd be glad to see it! Follow me, I know how to get there!"

Megan ran back down the steps and, despite some misgivings, the rest followed her. Megan went through the statues of Comedy and Tragedy, through the hallway and into the main auditorium. It was pretty dark but still lighted in some places.

They gathered in the middle and looked straight up. There was the chandelier, surrounded by the original mural.

Lisa swore.

For a long time, everyone just stared.

"Now what?" asked Alicia.

Everyone shrugged.

"I suppose the worst thing that could have happened is that we're not stuck in the 1800's but just in the 1960's," offered Lisa. After a moment, they all shrieked in horror at the prospect.

"Well, we have to find a way back," said Dan, after they had recovered their senses.

"So, we found a wormhole from Roseville, California, 2008 to Paris, France, late 19th century..." Grant said slowly.

"But if it's a wormhole, there has to be an entrance," Julie said. "I say the best chance we have is to look around and find it. It might not make any sense, but, so far, none of this has."

"That's box 5," Megan said quietly as she pointed to the infamous box on the left side of the stage. Or stage right. Either one of those.

Everyone silently considered the possibilities that their new predicament presented to them. Lisa was the first one to raise her hand to the level of her eyes. Being the phan-girl of the lot, Megan was glad that she wasn't the first one who did that. The rest of the group quickly followed suit. Sure, _Phantom _was from the realms of fiction, but with the whole wormhole thing and all, no one was going to take anything for granted.

They walked to the staircase again, arms still raised.

Alicia turned to Megan. "You're the only one who's been here before. Do you know how to get around well?"

"I only toured for a day and still didn't get to see a quarter of it, and that was just the public-access areas. I know a couple things, but other than that, we'll have to find out for ourselves. But be careful; Leroux didn't get his ideas from nowhere."

Megan led them down past the main staircase to the fountain of Pythia behind it. In front of them were seemingly unending corridors, very dimly lit.

"Ok," whispered Dan, "That's just plain freaky."

"Just stay together," warned Megan.

They all advanced slowly, gradually separating smaller groups. Every shadow was a threat, and they were numerous.

Megan had drifted away from her group; she wasn't out of sight, but she was far enough. As she stood still, she heard a noise behind her and spun around to see what it was. There was a very tall man wearing a mask.

"Qui vous est?" he asked in a deep voice.


	2. Chapter 2: The Phantom

**Author's Note:** Please forgive me if the French, Russian and Arabic passages don't make much sense; I had only online translators at my disposal.

To be completely honest, I'm not exactly sure which Erik is in this story... I didn't have one particular version in my head when I was writing this; depending on the situation, I saw several different interpretations of the character. So, feel free to envision your favorite Phantom! And don't worry, the Doctor will be arriving soon...

* * *

Megan hit the ground in 0.7 seconds. "Don't kill me!" she shrieked, wrapping her arms around her head.

The others turned around and huddled together, too frightened to speak, but capable of making inarticulate sounds.

The Phantom looked at the group, then down at the girl in front of him. "Qui vous est?" he repeated.

"What's he saying?" demanded Grant.

"I don't know! I don't speak French..." Megan stopped, trying to remember the one phrase she used the most when she had been in France. "Uh... Je ne parle pas de français. Parlez-vous l'anglais?" she recited hesitantly.

The Phantom was not even going to dignify that with a response. "Сделайте Вы говорите на русском языке?"

"Quoi?" Megan exclaimed.

"بالله عليك التحدث بالعربية?" the Phantom said, in a slight tone of desperation...

"What the...?" Julie said.

"Je ne peux pas croire ceci..." The teens could tell that the Phantom's patience was wearing thin, and they knew that this was _not_ a good place to be. "Vous ne parlez pas de français, Russe, arabe... You probably don't speak German or Italian, either."

"I speak some German," volunteered Grant.

They all looked at each other, more than a bit baffled, but glad that they were all on the same track now. Each was wondering what took the other so long to finally speak the right language.

"Well," said Erik smugly, "That's better. Now," He looked at Megan again, who was still crouched on the ground. "Who exactly are you?"

Megan, still with her hands around her head, looked up at him. "Uh... Americans."

"You fool!" hissed Julie. "He's sure to kill us now!"

"So," continued Erik, "Americans. But who are you?"

"That's kinda difficult to explain," stammered Megan. "But... uh..."

"Musicians!" interjected Lisa. "We're music students."

The rest agreed.

Erik looked them all up and down. "You're dressed rather strangely," he said. "Women in recreational trousers? I knew the customs of America were rather bizarre, but this exceeds my expectations."

"Well," muttered Megan, "That... sorry, I can't feel my legs. Can I get up now?" Erik stepped back and motioned that she may. "Thanks. Like I said, that's a bit difficult to explain. You could hear us, right?"

"Not quite. It was much more interesting just watching you."

"Well, I we know this sounds crazy, but..."

Dan picked up where Megan left off. "But we think we traveled back in time from the 21st century here."

Erik stared. It sounded insane enough, but from their clothes and atrocious vocabulary, he was just about willing to believe it. "I saw your rather spectacular entrance. I can't think of anything to explain it." He looked at them all again. "Just how do you think this all occurred?"

Everyone glared at Dan.

"It's his fault," said Grant, pointing at him.

"What has he done?"

"He, uh... He invented the Key of H."

"I beg your pardon?"

"After our music lesson, he said he had something to show us," said Alicia. "Something that he had worked out in theory but not practice. He went over to the piano, hit the keys, made the most appalling sounds and then... We ended up here."

"So, somehow, he managed to rip a hole in the space-time continuum and deposited us all here, half a world from California and 120 years earlier than 2008."

"And we have no idea how to get back home," said Lisa quietly.

"Except finding that hole again, and... well, like she said, we don't know what to do then," muttered Megan.

Erik kept staring at them for a few moments more. He knew that these statements were disguised ways of asking for his help. He couldn't refuse them; if he let them go to do whatever they wished, they would surely run into someone that would not treat them with any understanding. Whether that happened in the Opera or outside it, it would cause an undesirable commotion for him; the children would surely say that they had started their journey from the Opera, and that would lead to extensive searches. No, he couldn't risk that. And, of course, there was the fact that they had already seen him; he had a policy about that: anyone who saw him had to be monitored closely. He couldn't let them tell anyone else about him.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "How may I be of assistance?" he asked in an tolerant monotone.

"Don't kill us," whispered Dan.

"Shut up!" hissed Julie.

"Um... Well, you could show us around a bit," offered Grant. "Megan's been here before, and she says herself that she doesn't know her way around that well. We could definitely use the help. And you know every inch of this place, right?"

Erik nodded his assent. "Very well. I shall take you through the Opera, then the hidden corridors if necessary." He then began to walk to the Grand Staircase again. The whole group murmured their thanks, and started to follow him.

Dan caught up with Megan and began to speak in a soft tone. "Megan, you practically graduated from Phantom 101. I didn't know the guy spoke English."

"Me neither," she replied.

Erik, with his cat-like hearing, heard them and turned around, suspicion plain in his eyes. "I am not speaking English," he said sharply.

The teens looked at him warily.

"He really is crazy, isn't he?" Grant whispered to Alicia.

"But," started Julie, "We all hear you speaking English..."

Erik was started to look worried as well. "I am hearing you speaking German, like the boy said." He motioned at Grant.

"But how's that possible?" asked Dan.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Dude, you just invented the Key of H. What else did you expect?"

It was at that crucial moment that the most singular sound began to echo through the corridors...

**VWORP... VWORP... VWORP...**

And a bright light began flashing at the base of the Grand Staircase.

Despite their misgivings about each other, the teens and the Phantom hurried down the stairs again to investigate. They were speechless as a tall, blue box began to materialize in front of them. On the top, under the flashing light were the words "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX".

Grant turned to Dan and screamed: "Now what did you do?"

No one reacted to him, however. They stared at the box, mouths agape. The sound finally stopped and there was silence.

They just about jumped when they heard a male voice with a British accent coming from inside the box.

"Well, this should be more stable then the top of the chandelier! Rose, I give you the Palais de Garnier. Allons-y!"


	3. Chapter 3: The Doctor

A tall thin man in a trench coat, red sneakers and big hair stepped outside the blue box. He had a huge grin until he saw the 19th Century Phantom and the 21st Century teens. His bright eyes darted back and forth between them. "Oh..." he said quietly.

"Wha' is it?" A female voice, also coming from the box. Erik and the teens all leaned to the left, trying to get a look inside the box, wondering how this girl, whoever she was, could fit in there. "Did you get the wrong location again?" The man was still looking at our bamboozled group when the girl stepped out and stood beside him. She was blond and, to the teens' inexplicable joy and explicable surprise, wearing clothes like them. She began to stare at the teens before her as well. "Oh..." she said. She then turned to the tall man. "So, um... what's goin' on here?"

"I'm not sure yet," he replied seriously. "But at least one of you," he looked at all of them individually, "is in the wrong time." He suddenly regained his grin. "Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose."

"Hi," said Rose with a smile and a little wave.

"Doctor who?" asked Julie.

"Just the Doctor," replied the Doctor.

Everyone stared back, still speechless about the blue box and what it brought with it. This Doctor and Rose looked like they understood all too well. They would have to be gentle with this lot.

"So," continued the Doctor, "Now that we've introduced ourselves, let's learn a little about you. Come on." He looked at Erik. "Well, I mean, except, of course, I know who you are. Who wouldn't?"

Rose's jaw dropped a little as she finally looked Erik's way. "Is that the Phantom?" she asked the Doctor in an excited whisper.

He turned to her, grinning even wider. "Yes, he is," he replied without actually moving his jaw.

"The Real Phantom?"

"Uh-huh."

Rose let out a medium-small squeal. Erik's eyes narrowed with confusion and slight offence at this over-familiarity.

"Sorry," apologized Rose, still smiling. "I'm just a big fan... Heard a lot about you."

"Sooo..." interrupted the Doctor, trying to get everyone focused, "What about the rest of you? You kids? What're your names?"

Grant tried to say something, but nothing seemed to be coming out. Finally, he found words. "What is that?" he asked shakily, pointing to the blue box.

"Oh, that? That's just my space ship. It's called the TARDIS."

"Don't worry," Rose said gently, "It's bigger on the inside."

"Just who are you?" asked Lisa.

"We're time travelers," answered Rose. "I'm from London, about 2005. How 'bout you?"

"We're from California... 2008," said Alicia. "My name's Alicia, and this is my brother Grant." Grant nodded to the Doctor and Rose and the rest of the teens introduced themselves.

"I"m Lisa."

"I'm a Megan."

"Daniel Alexander, named after the Conqueror."

"Julie, his sister."

"Right, Alicia, Grant, Lisa, a Megan, Daniel Alexander and sister Julia!" the Doctor recited. "I take it you know each other?"

"Yeah, we're in music class together," said Dan.

"Ok. Well, we're all definitely mismatched, so I'd say the first thing we should do is figure out exactly when we are. But how to determine that?" The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he thought. "HA!" He clapped his hands once as he shouted, startling everyone except Rose. "I know! We check the mural around the chandelier! We should have checked it while we were up there!"

He grabbed Rose's hand and began to run up the stairs and had almost reached the Comedy and Tragedy statues before Julie called after him. "Stop! We already did that; it's the original painting."

The Doctor looked a little deflated. "Oh." He put his hands in his pockets and slowly came back down the stairs. "So you're definitely the ones out of place here," he said, pointing at the teens. He rubbed the back of his head as he continued to speak. "Which is really weird, 'cause you can reasonably get one person to spontaneously time travel; that would explain you." He pointed at the Phantom. "But you..." He looked at the teens again, "There's only a few things that could transport so many of you at once." He nearly tripped over Dan's cello case. "Whoa! Wait a minute... didn't you say you were all in music class together?"

"Yeah," replied Lisa. She motioned to Dan and Julie. "Their mom's our teacher."

The Doctor looked around at all the other instrument cases on the floor. "And I take it that you were all in class when you were transported here?"

"Right. In fact, that's how we got here."

"Really?" The Doctor looked interested. "And how did that happen?"

Grant told the story. "Dan said he had a musical theory he wanted to show us. 'The Key of H', he called it. After class, he went to the piano and started playing. There was a really bad noise, then it was like we were all sucked through a tunnel, and ended up here."

"Was there a strange light as well, when you were going through the tunnel?" asked the Doctor, looking very serious.

"Yeah, that's right..."

"And you felt a bit sick after you arrived?"

"How did you know that?"

"Because it's happened to me before. And, being me, it'll probably happen again."

"What are you talking about?" Julie asked, getting irritated.

"You were transported through time and...well, not _real_ space, just relative space... Anyway! You were transported through space and time by an alien, an ancient creature called a Weeping Angel."

"They transported us with their ship? Why?"

"No, they don't have a ship. They transported you by touching you."

"But it was just us alone in the room," said Megan. "We didn't see anything else there."

"You never see them coming," explained the Doctor. "They turn to stone if anyone actually sees them; it's how they defend themselves. But as soon as you turn your back, or even blink, they can move as fast as light. And all it takes is one touch... You were all focusing on what Daniel Alexander had to show you, so you didn't see them. They feed off potential energy, that's why they transport people back in time. They can live off the energy that you never used. And you were the perfect targets! You're young, ready to go out into the world, talented," he motioned at the music cases, "got your whole lives ahead of you! And you could have just made a discovery that could change the world. It's amazing how much potential energy you lot have!"

There were a few moments of silence.

"Another weird thing happened," finally said Julie. "When he," she motioned to Erik, "showed up, we were trying to figure out what language to speak. We don't know how to speak French, and Grant speaks some German, but..."

"Then suddenly he was speaking English, although I had already asked him about that," finished Megan.

"But I had heard them speaking German, like the boy had said," Erik retorted. "And I was speaking German to them."

Rose couldn't help smirking a bit.

"Never gets old, does it?" The Doctor asked her. "That was just the TARDIS again." He walked back to the blue box and tapped it with his hand. "It translates for you, in your head. Every language in the universe, all ready for you to speak and hear."

"It gets in my head?" Alicia asked, shuddering a bit.

The Doctor grinned. "_Insiiiide your miiind_..." he sang softly. Rose gave him a venomous look, shaking her head. The Doctor stopped, trying to be serious again. "Sorry."

The teens stared blankly at the Doctor for a long time, trying to understand everything he had told them.

"You said that was a time machine, right?" Lisa asked quietly, looking at the blue box.

"Yep."

"Can you take us back home?" asked Alicia, saying what everyone was hoping.

"Hm? Oh yeah, sure, of course," the Doctor replied. "Easiest thing in the world, with the TARDIS. You'll need to give me some more precise coordinates than California, though. That can be a bit tricky sometimes."

Rose rolled her eyes significantly. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"So, it won't be a problem if we go back?" asked Megan. "We won't cause any more issues with us getting back to our own time? It won't break any rules or anything?"

"Not with me, it won't," the Doctor assured, a little more seriously than usual. Rose gave him a slightly strange look.

"But wait," interjected Grant. "Once we get back to the classroom, won't those aliens still be there? They might send us back again!"

"Nah, they don't hunt that way." Everyone felt a little chilled once he put it like that. "Like I said, they can move fast as light. Once they get someone, they leave immediately. Especially in such a public place. They could be stuck as stone for a long time if they were seen in a school. They just got lucky this time. But no, they won't be there. Nothing to worry about."

The teens still looked a bit shell-shocked, so Rose finally stepped forward. She looked down at the floor. "You all need help with picking up your music?"

Dan looked down at the floor, the mess and had the audacity to looked surprised. "Oh. Yeah." They started to pick up the sheets of music, examining them, then passing them along to the right person.

After a few minutes, Erik joined in the sorting. Strangely enough, he seemed to know who were the first and second violinists without having to ask.

As the teens got their cases together, the Doctor stepped into the doorway of the TARDIS and grinned. "So, everybody ready?"

The teens looked around at each other, wondering who would be brave enough to go in first. They pushed Dan to the front of the line as punishment. He slowly walked past the Doctor and into the TARDIS. He immediately backed out, clutching his music to his chest, looking very pale. "What the...?" he muttered.

The Doctor gently pushed him back inside. "Bigger on the inside, just like Rose said. All right, all the rest of you kids. Come on."

There were all sorts of reactions to the TARDIS, from terror to fascination, including the incident where Grant backed out the door and ran around it a few times to see just how big (or small) it was, all of which the Doctor and Rose took in stride.

As soon as Grant was contained, the Doctor stepped outside once again to speak to the Phantom. "Well, sorry about this little disturbance. It shouldn't happen again."

Before he could say anything else, Rose and Megan looked out together from the doorway. "Hi!" they both said, grinning. Erik kept staring at them in confusion.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Sorry... phangirls."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Anyway! Rose and I may be back at some point. I promised her we'd come here, but this wasn't the sort of adventure I had in mind. I was aiming for the roof, but ended up on the chandelier instead... That was a wake-up call... Anyway..." He grinned again. "Au revoir!"

"Say hello to Christine!" Rose called out as the Doctor walked back inside the TARDIS.

"Who?" asked Erik.

"No," the Doctor quietly reprimanded. "No, don't do that."

"Sorry!" Megan apologized to Erik.

"Stop it!" the Doctor's voice echoed from within the TARDIS.

Rose shut the door, and the engines began to sound again.

VWORP.... VWORP.... VWORP....

The blue box disappeared into thin air.

For a long time, Erik stood still where he was. Eventually he made his way toward Box 5, wondering if he should finally give up the morphine or not...

THE END


End file.
